The Green web is growing. Rapidly. And it’s a good thing. Online communities, blogs, and social sites aimed at connecting well-meaning people with great causes (and each other) have mushroomed. Nowadays, all it takes to rally around issues like climate change, clean energy, or health care reform is an Internet connection.
At the same time, with all the Green social networks out there, it’s hard to know which online community is worth the time investment. Because, face it, social networking takes time. Whether you are an individual activist seeking to meet other like-minded people or a social change organization trying to build community around your cause, choosing the right online community can ensure that you get the most impact for your efforts.
Top 10 Green Social Networks
Here are the top 10 most influential, active, and interesting social networks for Green causes:
Care2 was started in 1998 by Randy Paynter who wanted to harness the power of the Internet to make the world a better place. Care2 originally started as an online email and ecard service that donated a percentage of revenues to environmental nonprofits. It has since evolved into an interactive online community with nearly 12M members. On Care2, you can support a variety of social causes, from animal welfare to women’s rights, by donating to featured nonprofits, signing petitions, joining an interest group, or simply staying informed.
Needless to say, the project has since outgrown Randy’s apartment and is now a company that has 50 employees, 9 million users, and 400 nonprofit partners.
Change.org is the leading online community for social change. Originally, Change.org provided a novel way for people to connect around positive social change – you would type in the change(s) you wanted to create in the world and you would be able to find others in the community who were tagged with those same causes. The site has since evolved, providing daily news and information about important social issues, as well as the means for people to take action and connect with nonprofits.
Change.org is a profitable social entrepreneurship venture based in San Francisco, CA, founded by Stanford graduate Ben Rattray in 2005.
WiserEarth is a free online community space connecting the people, nonprofits, and businesses working toward a just and sustainable world. It is a project of Paul Hawken’s Natural Capital Institute and built on a wiki platform that supports the world’s most detailed classification of issue areas related to social justice and environmental restoration. Here you will find the world’s largest free and editable international directory of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and socially responsible organizations (110,000 in 243 countries, territories, and sovereign islands) – wow!
In the spirit of Wikipedia, WiserEarth is open source, with content publicly available for use under the Creative Commons license.
11thhouraction.com was inspired by the popular documentary “The 11th Hour” (narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio). It’s an environmentally focused social network aimed at empowering individuals and communities to engage in planet-saving actions.
Users can sign up, create a blog, create their own environmental action campaigns, or commit to a personal action, like carpooling or recycling more. Actions get plotted on a map, so you can view the